AJ Allmendinger boosted by Indy 500 test delay
AJ Allmendinger believes that the postponement of the rookie orientation day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway could ultimately benefit his preparations for his first attempt at the Indy 500 next month
Rookie orientation was originally scheduled to take place this Thursday, but will be rescheduled after forecasts indicated that the day would be affected by bad weather.
Along with Allmendinger, Tristan Vautier, Conor Daly and Carlos Munoz were set to take part.
However, Allmendinger says that the delay will have no effect on his dovetailed IndyCar/NASCAR Sprint Cup programmes, and could actually streamline his preparations for the 500.
He is contesting NASCAR events for James Finch's Phoenix team alongside his growing Penske IndyCar calendar.
"The IndyCar thing, especially with everything that comes to the Indy 500 in general, that's the most important thing," Allmendinger said.
"The good thing is that Phoenix Racing has worked with me to make sure that everything kind of lined up, and James knows that the IndyCar and everything that comes along with it takes priority.
"[The delay] doesn't mess me up. I think it's going to be good because I can go into Indy week and get focused and be able to go through rookie orientation on the Friday now.
"To have that lead into the start of the two weeks of Indy is really good, instead of maybe just doing one day like I was going to do and maybe doing a couple Cup races and Long Beach [IndyCar] in between."
Allmendinger made his IndyCar debut with Penske last week at Barber Motorsports Park, spending most of the weekend in the top 10 before stalling during a pitstop and finishing 19th.
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